ALBUM: Django Django ‘Born Under Saturn’

Rating:

The last we heard of Django Django was back in 2012 when they were nominated for a Mercury Prize for their self-titled debut album. They have now returned with a celestial new collection, Born Under Saturn.

Given that the planet Saturn is in scientific terms a gas giant, it is only fitting that the album opens with the energetic ‘Giant’. Django Django do the song title justice as ominous drumming gets our pulses racing and space-age synths injects a dose of fun. ‘Giant’ sets the tone for the first half of the album with the adrenaline-fired intro of ‘Shake And Tremble’ treating us to upbeat, futuristic landscapes and the sporadic sounds of ‘Found You’.

Saturn was named after the Roman god of agriculture and it is the beauty of rural nature, hiding behind the facade of modern life, breaking through into our consciousness which Born Under Saturn deals with. Nowhere on the album is this more obvious than in the dreamy lead single ‘First Light.’  Amongst atmospheric and uplifting synths, beautiful imagery of nature echoes from Vincent Neff’s disciplined vocals: “First light, the fields are ablaze, cuts through the haze…”

‘Pause Repeat’ and ‘Reflections’ could have been lifted straight from an ’80s video game with their light-hearted, disco sound. They show their whimsical side in the star-lit vibrancy of ‘Vibrations’ and ‘Shot Down’ by mixing in fun, Bongo drum beats in with synths. This again conveys the contrast of modernity and nature as gentle soundbites of the jungle are scattered across ‘Vibrations’. However it is at this point which Born Under Saturn suffers from a mid-album slump.

Although ‘High Moon’, ‘Beginning To Fade’ and ‘Break The Glass’ all contain a dream-like quality, at points it can feel almost comatose. It is lucky that ‘4000 Years’ is placed in the middle of these tracks as it rescues the last half of the album with a contagious bassline and layering of mechanical sounds.

Born Under Saturn isn’t just another dance-pop album, it’s a science fiction fairytale of re-birth and nature, reaching this conclusion with the celebratory tale of ‘Life We Know’ as they find their peace.

Born Under Saturn is released on 4th May via Because Music.

 Nicky Lee-Deslisle 

@ManicNicky

Nicky Lee-Delisle

Nicky Lee-Delisle